In the past, physicians only needed to be concerned with their reputations as they pertained to traditional, person-to-person encounters: if they were ethical and conscientious in their patient interactions, their reputations were safe, and news of their great customer service and fine array of practice options spread by word-of-mouth. Now, however, doctors also have to be cognizant of MD rating websites (i.e., online communications focusing on medical practice providers), over which they have little control and which can reach the masses in a very short time. While it can take years to build a medical practice with a solid reputation, a single, disgruntled patient can destroy that hard-earned reputation in a matter of minutes by posting a negative comment on a blog and ruining that practice's good name. To further complicate matters, both established and potential patients who subsequently “Google” that physician could see this damaging post before they even reach the practice website.

With the recent explosion of online opinion through Internet, social networking, and blogging sites, online reputation management (ORM) has become a critical component of any practice's current medical marketing strategy. ORM is the process of proactively following online references to a brand, company, person, or service and having a solid plan in place to deal with positive, as well as negative, feedback. ORM is a relatively new industry but has rapidly gained prominence in the arena of online solutions for the overwhelming, unpredictable, and irresponsible content often found in today's online communications. The lesson many practices are learning through ORM is: if you do not control your brand online, someone else might.

Control the Dialogue
More opportunities exist today than ever before for former employees or disgruntled patients to e-mail, blog, post a complaint, or create a slanderous website targeting you or your practice. The objective of ORM is to have a system in place to know who is saying what about you, to which audience, and why. This system should be consistent and should be part of a complete ORM strategy for follow-up on all online commentary. There are three critical points of focus for ORM:

1. Monitor your reputation. In order to monitor successfully, you should have an ongoing system in place for researching and keeping track of online public perception. ORM is sometimes referred to as “online reputation monitoring.”

2. Evaluate results. You will want your system to evaluate the damage caused by any comments or dialogue from the party or parties involved. A good strategy is to look at the source of the comment, evaluate the risk, and determine what kind of audience reach the commentary has to your overall reputation.

3. Create a plan of action. Based on your evaluation of the situation, determine whether to act, ignore, or draft a formal response to the party or parties involved. Being mentioned in social media can be a threat if not dealt with effectively but also can generate great benefits if used advantageously.

The overall goal is to have people regard your brand in a positive sense by achieving, maintaining, and improving their online impression of your practice and its offerings.

Tips for Online Reputation Management Success
The following tips will help you to develop a good system for ORM in your practice:

Create official online profiles. You should be the one developing and controlling your online reputation. Don't let just anyone talk about you online without your permission. Create your own profiles and websites, complete with the kind of information you feel accurately describes your practice and patient care. Google Maps and local business sites, as well as industry-specific sites, will allow you to claim your business listing online. If you go to any of these websites, there is a link for you to follow to claim your name and business.

Be proactive. Instead of waiting until there is a negative post about you, have a system in place to put positive commentary on the Internet about your practice and your physicians. Encourage enthusiastic patients to post comments and testimonials beneficial to your image; write good press releases; and/or participate in well-respected industry blogs.

Search for your physician and practice names on Google and Yahoo! The best way to understand where your practice's online reputation currently stands is to conduct a search of its name (and provider names) on a regular basis. See which websites and/or information pops up on different search engines and review the information relevant to your practice. For example, do the top websites on your profile consist of MD rating sites, or is your profile filled with proactive marketing such as your practice website, positive press releases, and marketing materials you have developed and released?

Set up Google and Yahoo alerts for both your practice and providers' names. You can set up Google and Yahoo alerts free of charge for the purpose of tracking web results, videos, blogs, and news about your practice. If any negative commentary or communication is placed on the web, these “alerts” will e-mail you the daily, weekly, or monthly results for your practice and/or providers. With Google and Yahoo alerts in place, you can proactively catch comments before they sit on the Internet for an extended period of time. To set up Google alerts, go to http://www.google.com/alerts. If you want to set up alerts for Yahoo, follow the link http://www.yahoo.com/alerts.

Assume everything can get on the web. Have solid checks and balances in your practice as well as in your personal and professional exchanges to help control your communication. What you say online, in an e-mail, or even in an offline conversation can come back to haunt you if posted in a negative forum. Educate staff members, friends, and patients about the importance of reputation management and keeping confidential conversations confidential.

Participate in social networks. Social networking is here to stay and is growing at an exponential rate. Over 67 million Americans currently use online networking in a single month. Initially, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace were mediums that practices could disregard in their marketing efforts. However, with the current surge in social media, as well as search engines' recent willingness to post this information, practices should no longer ignore these sites. Simply setting up a profile or fan page for your practice and provider on these social media sites can be useful for two reasons: 1) it locks in that URL or web address for your practice. For example, if your office is John Smith, MD, you can set up a Facebook fan page for www.facebook/johnsmithmd that will then secure that URL for your practice, and 2) with the number of people on these sites, your practice should work to have a marketing presence in this medium. Decide what kind of commitment your office wants to make in the social networking arena, and then set up a plan to manage it with your brand strategy in mind.

Know your weaknesses. If your practice has a particular weakness or problem, identify it and have a solution in place to manage it. For example, if wait time is a problem for your dermatology practice, you may want to initiate proactive staff training, a patient satisfaction survey, and a contingency plan for any dissatisfied patients who have experienced long wait times. If you take the initiative to identify and address these issues up front before the patient leaves your office or shortly thereafter, you run less of a risk of angry postings in an online medium.

Understand the policy of review sites. If the comment or post in question is on a review site or a medical rating site, you need to understand the policy of the company or review site in question for handling this kind of situation. You will need to allow them time to research the complaint or issue. Try to follow the company's protocols as closely as possible and stick to the facts of the circumstances. It is best to work within their policies and protocols to undo or respond to a situation whenever possible.

Act fast. If you do find something said or posted about you online that you feel could be particularly damaging to you or your practice, a timely response is critical. In the virtual world of online communication, a negative comment can be passed along at lightning speed and can do damage in a very short period of time. You must respond as quickly as possible to protect yourself.

Do not respond in an angry or unprofessional manner. You may be incensed at what a former patient has said about you online, but you will only cause more harm if you respond negatively or with anger. Instead, respond calmly and factually. Keep your anger to yourself and off the Internet. Some practices have been successful in diffusing a situation by responding to the upset individual in a rational, professional manner. Bear in mind that the online audience is forming an opinion about your practice and your providers not only by what was said but also in how you respond to the negative post.

Enjoy a Spotless Reputation
By adopting a proactive and solution-oriented approach to negative input, whether online in the form of a blog or face-to-face with a dissatisfied patient, you can prevent or minimize damage to your hard-earned reputation. With the help of online tools, such as free search engine alerts, your careful vigilance and positive presentation of your practice profile will alleviate or offset any potential harm to you or your practice, thus allowing you to enjoy the long-term benefits of a spotless reputation.

For more information on the Internet and your practice, see the Business Advisor column in our March 2010 issue, available online at PracticalDermatology.com.